Monday, August 29, 2011

We've had a fun summer of garage sales around town. Cheap fun, but it does result in a large increase in crap toys around the house.

We kicked off the season with the Baldwin Citywide sales. At the first one or two places we stopped, Cooper didn't really find anything he truly wanted, but he would pick something up and say "well, I guess we can buy this." I certainly didn't want to foster the idea of buying stuff just for the sake of buying stuff. So we talked about waiting to find something he really wanted, that way if we came across something a little bigger (instead of just a small car or something), we could get it.

He found this:

A 3-foot by 4-foot doll house. It's the Little Tykes Grand Mansion from the 90s, and it's in spectacular condition. Good thing, because now it's in our living room.

Also notice the outfit -- a clown costume to go with the jester hat he got for his birthday in England.

Cooper's doctor outfit became a vet outfit when we found a plastic animal crate, stuff dog (he named Ralph), and vet tools.

And it's possible I may have lost my mind here. Coop found a box with a pirate ship on it. We bought it for $1 and then I noticed that it contains a zillion tiny plastic pieces that we're supposed to glue together.

So bit by bit, Cooper and I have been piecing it together. He much prefers to watch me do it and then count to 20 while we hold the freshly-glued piece in place. So far, we've built about 45 cannons, three decks, and the hull.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Coop and I were in Dollar General a few weeks ago buying random supplies. He's had his eye on a stick horse there for quite some time. So we decided we would take it up to the front register and ask how much it costs.

[Rookie mistake. I should have found out what it cost first before we actually had it in our cart.]

Anyway, it was $8. I explained it's a bit more expensive than I was thinking, so we're not going to buy it today, but that we'll go home and make a plan about how he can earn/save money and come back to get it later. He cried for a while, which I expected. And we talked about how hard it is to have to wait to buy something you really want, but that we can use his sticker chart (which currently earns him books) to maybe earn the horse over the next week or so. I got him calmed down, we gave the horse a hug, took him back to his box, and headed to the door.

We were half-way out the door when the woman who was paying for her items at the register yells out to us, "Ma'am he can buy the horse!" And I say "Oh, no thanks. We're ok. We'll come back and get in some other time." But she insists, "No really, he can buy it." And she digs money out of her purse. I keep saying no, and I'm frantically shaking my head at the cashier (a friend of mine) to see if she can help. But then the woman hands Cooper $8 and tells him to go get the horse.

We did. And he was overjoyed. With honest-to-goodness tears of joy. It was sweet.

But so much for the lesson I was trying to teach. So now we're using the sticker chart to earn the $8 and then do something nice for someone else.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Carmen and Toban got this helmet/handlebar set for Cooper for Christmas a year and a half ago. We just now figured out that it only works when the handlebars are in close proximity to the helmet. And then it makes all kinds of great noise.

This is Coop's motorcyle-riding position.

One Saturday morning, we made a beard to go with Coop's Santa costume:

Coop designed this train track, complete with the Eiffel Tower and the London Eye on the back corner.

The Lawrence Community Theatre put on a production of How I Became A Pirate, based on a book that Coop loves. So naturally, he donned his pirate costume so we could go see it.